Welcome to The Wave, Arizona

While hiking to The Wave you first cross a few miles of sandstone in southern Utah,then cross a sandy wash right on the Arizona border, then climb a sand dune, then sandy rock, and eventually arrive at the mouth of The Wave itself, which is what's pictured here. I think we were all due for a short break after reaching this point and even though we were eager to get into The Wave itself we had to stop here and take a few photographs.

The entrance to the wave itself is really as beautifully colored and shaped as the best known area, just about 50 feet further ahead (the main Wave can just be seen along the left edge of the frame here). After a rain water will pool here creating beautiful reflections of the sandstone walls while looking out into the open winderness beyond it. For us, however, the area was mostly dry - I think I'd personally prefer it this way.

Despite the wonderful color and shapes I had a hard time choosing a frame that I most clearly preferred from my shots here, and in the end settled on this frame as I preferred the prominent sweep of lighter sandstone sweeping into the frame from the bottom left. Be sure to check out other photos from Suad, John, and Scott who I did this trip with, or check out our group pool for more details.